Cultivator shovel



Feb. 19, 1952 J. J PLESKAC 2,586,255

CULTIVATOR SHOVEL Filed April 12, 1948 2 SHEETSSHEET l JJP Feb. 19,1952 K 2,586,255

' CULTIVATOR SHOVEL riled April 12, 1948 2 SHEETSSHEET 2 (fo -man Patented Feb. 19, 1952 UNITED TAIEs m1- Eur OFFICE I "oiiL'rIvAToR semi;-

Us i v John JrPleskac, Ulysses, Nebr.

Application April 12, 1948, Serial No. 20,392

The present invention wastes? to agricultural implements and more particularly to the art of cultivating the soil. H q

Itis fan'objectbf the invention fto provide a cultivator 'sho'veI which-is'so shaped that attinies wh'efi 'it is'"coop'eratively assembled m use with certainportion's of a self-propelled cultivator and used for treating corn hills that the said assemblage 'of partsferadicates 'weeds' more advantageouslythan heretofore zrAnother object'cf the' invention is topr o'vide' airdevice: for the above described purpose which lHTullSG lCaUSBS SOiI to'b'e moved into" alignment with a rowof corn stalks'and from-the sides of alcomhill for treating portions of the soil in a more thorough and advantageous manner than heretofore.

:A further object of the inventicn is'to provide axdevice for the above stated purposes which causes the soil to become mulched'during amovement thereof toward and upon-the crown of a corn/hill. 7.

:A still further object of the invention is to provide a device which may be employed for'culti vating. a field of corn in an appreciably less amount of time than heretofore required, whereby labor costs are-iminimize 5 Asheretofore practiced inthe art of, cultivating growing corn it has beenimpossible'to cause looseearth to become deposited upon the crown of a corn hill and by meansof conventional cultivating machinery since the aligned corn stalks ofa: row of cornlstalks are positioned on said crown and the, present inventionaimsto obviate I the undesirable .factors or: the prior practice by providing adevicewhich causes the"'ea'rthto' be deposited upon said crown for smothering-and killing weed growths which otherwise 'would 's'a'p the moisture away from the roots ofthe corn stalks of a row whereby said stalks wouldnot be" in as healthy a condition as the "condition achieved by an vention.

In the drawings: Figure 1' is a front shovel. r

Figure 2 is aside view-thereof. Figure 3 is .a bottom plan viewof theshovel shown intFigures 1 and-2i a liigure l i atop plan; view on a cultivator asscmbly and depicting-an employment of 'the in l-tinvention. I Figure 5. is a longitudinal sectiontaken' on line 5 -5 of Figure 4, and showing -a portion'of the new device in side elevation.

employment of the present in view of the newcultivator" 1 Claim. (Cl. Ell-204;)

* b ii u a le t aii dft t e of- 'the tractor by any suitable means not shown.

To the end,l2'"of the bar l' ltwo oppositely dis-' posed beams 13 and, Hi are secured by any suitablemeans such as or similar'to then-leans shown in Figuree. best shown in Figure 5 rear ends of t'he members l3 'and I 4 are arcuate the hookshaped portionsthereof being indicated at [5 and lfig the'fre e endf portions of said hooks being disposed downwardly" toward;; the soil and each being' provided with a conventional cultivator shovehsaid shovels being indicated at I! and I8.

"InFigure 5 the dotted line 19 represents the surface of the soil-and the dotted line 20 represents' the crown of 'a' corn hill; In Figure 4 spaced-apart vertically'disposed corn stalks are ,repr'esentedby the dotted lines 2 I, said stalks being disposed in a row upon ;-the. crown 20 of the hill 22 as diagrammatically represented in Figure 5." g M t f As-b'st shown inFigure l the 'rearwardly disposed or free ends of theb'eamsl3 and I4 extend div'ergently with 'respect to each other and to each side of their-point of attachment to the bar I l and since ftheiree ends ofthehOOk-Shaped portionsbi said-beams are disposed'an appreciable di'stance awayfrom the row of corn stalksconventional" cultivator shovels are employed, for engagement-with, the soili at the ends of said hooksf'f "The said row of cojrn stalks 'is represente'd" by" the dotted line 23 and at each side of said row, and in pn uensm the wi j ure 7 guards or shields'24 and 25"1are disposed in spaced. Y

apart relation respectitq "eachgother, the distance between said shields being approximately eight inches during use; The Shields are carried or'supported bylthe beams l4 'and I3 respectively "andby ma e: hangerbars two of "the latter being 'employed for each shield; The"hanger "bars"'26 'and"2f! extend from'the" beani'13 as bestshown in Figure '4'and the like hanger bars 28 and 29 depend from the beam ets longitudinally with respect to the beams that the shields 24- and 25 may be positioned closer together or further away from the corn row 23 as may be desired for later described purposes.

Similar sockets 3| and 32 are slidably dis posed on the beams |3 and I4 respectively. and said sockets are adapted to be locked to their respective beams by a manipulation of; the set screws 33 the latter being best shown in Figure 4. The sockets 3| and 32 are provided with like apertures 34 for snugly receiving therein the hanger shafts 36 and 35; respectively. The said hanger shafts are Aslidable with respect to the socketsand in vertical directions being-adapted tobe maintained in a selectedpo'sition above the soil Ibymeans of the further set screws 3l employed.

At the lower .ends of the hanger shafts 35 and 36 the latter are provided with the new cooperative cultivator shovels now to be described. r

. p Referring to Figure l the new shovel'is generally indicated at 38 having an elongated flat upper face portion 39 which is approximately vertically disposed in. use. The face portion 'is provided-with aplurality of boltreceiving apertures 40 for facilitating an attachment of the shovel 38 to .the lower end of the hanger shaft 35 in. a manner whereby the face 33 of r the shovel is,- transversely disposed with respect tothe line of draft orforward movement of a cultivator during a cultivating. operation. g a The lower .V-shaped end .portionof the face 39 terminates in a comparatively sharp point 4 said point being in approximate vertical alignmentwith the apertures 4D.- A portion of theface, providing an outer wall indicated at 42, extends outwardly away. from the main body portion of the face 39 as .bestshown in Figure 1-.

In the practice of the. present invention a wing 1-43v is provided for the new shovel saidwing being disposed at an angle of inclination of approximately thirty degrees with respect to an inner wall or face being adjoined to the lat-- tergatthe opposite side of the-point of-the V with'respe'ct to theportion 42.. r A

Asshown in Figure 2 the face portion of the new shovel is, arcuate and concave'in side elevation and said-wing extends from the upper edge 44'of the flatupperr'section of said face downwardly towards. the point 4| .ofthe V-' shaped lower section and, approximately twothirds of the/length of said face, the'pointof junction of said face and the lower portion-of the soil deflecting sectionof said wingbeing indicated at 45. Asbest shown in Figure 2 from; the point 45 the lower edge 46 ofthewing-extends away from the face 39 of the new shovel; and. as bestfshown in Figures 1 and 3 the wing 43 terminates in a portion- 41 which is-oifset with respect tothe main body portion 'of the wing as best shown in Figure 1, said-offset per-- ion 4'Lbeing disposed at a more acute angle of inclination with respect to the face 39 than the main body portion of said wing for purposes later described and it'will be understood that the terminal end portion 41 of the wing is preferably employed for the said later described purposes.

The lower edge of the portion 41 is not sharp preferably. The lower edge 46 of the main body portion 43 of the wing, as best shown in Figure 3, is provided with a comparatively sharp edge or cutter portion 48 which extends from the point of junction 49 of the terminal end portion 4'! with the main body portion of said wing to the pointed-end 4| ofwthe new shovel. Also, as best shown in Figure 3, the lower end of the shovel is provided with a similar cutter 5|] which extends from the point 4| along the lower edge of the portion 42 of the face of the new shovel.

As best shown in Figure 4 a similar shovel, generally indicated at 5|, is oppositely disposed, in use, with respect to the above specifically described shovel 38. The shovel 5| is attached to the lower end of the hanger bar 36. The wing portion of the shovel 5| is disposed toward the shovel 38 and'wing portion ofthe latter is disposed toward the sho'vel 5| and it willbe understood that said shovels cooperate together,

in use, being alike in: allrespects except that one may be called a right-hand'shovel and'the other aleft-hand shovel said right and left referring to the opposite sides of a row of corn stalks.

vAs best shown in Figure 5 the upper edge 52' of the wing portion of the, shovel 5| is disposed posed,-in use,-with respect to the guard plate 24. During operation and assuming that the tractor is moving in the direction of the arrow 53 and .thatthe lower end portions of the shovels 38 and 5| are engaged in the soil beneath the surface I9 thereof, as shown in'Figure 5; it will be seen that a large portion of the earth turned by said shovels becomes moved by the oppositely disposed wings of the shovels toward and uponthe crownof the corn hill heretofore mentionedfor burying weed growths thereunder and that said moved soil becomes mulched to'a desirable extent during said movement since it isforced under the lower edges of the guard plates 24 and 25 respectively; said plates preventing large clods of earth frombecoming in contact with l the growing and tender corn stalks for preventing of the shovels the guard plates '24 and 25 co 'operate with the wings to cover the said roots:

with soil which, it has been found in actual practice, is a distinct advantage with respect to a cultivation'of'corn with conventional shovels which often permit said roots to become exposedto the air and rays of the sun whereby corn stalks are not of healthy growth. From the foregoing description, it is thought to be obvious'that a cultivator shovel assembly constructed in accordance, withmy invention is particularly well adapted for use by reason of the convenience and facility with which it may be assembled and operated, and it will also be obvious that my invention is susceptible of some change and modification without departing from the principles and spirit thereof and for this reason, I do not wish to be understood as limiting myself to the precise arrangement and formation of the several parts herein shown in carrying out my invention in practice, except as claimed.

I claim:

In a cultivator shovel, the combination which comprises an arcuate front plate concave in elevation, having a flat upper section and a V- shaped lower section with the wall forming one side of the V extended outwardly away from hills of a row of corn on which the cultivator from which the shovel depends is positioned providing an outer wall and the other side extended inwardly toward hills in said row of corn providing an inner wall, the outer wall of the said lower section extended beyond the edge of the corresponding side of the said fiat upper section and the upper end of said outer wall being spaced from and positioned below the upper end of the said flat upper section, the inner wall of the said V-shaped lower section extended rearwardly and outwardly from the center of the shovel to a point corresponding with the edge of said flat upper section of the shovel and from said point inwardly away from the center of the shovel to provide a soil deflecting wing, and from said wing rearwardly at an acute angle in relation to the said wing, the side walls of thesaid V- shaped lower section of the shovel having arcuate lower edges extended upwardly and rearwardly from the point; and the said wing having an arcuate upwardly sloping lower edge positioned to pile soil elevated by the point of the shovel around hills of corn of the said row of corn.

JOHN J. PLESKAC.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 422,718 Cameron Mar. 4, 1890 482,226 Cheney et a1 Sept. 6, 1892 769,055 Bumgardner Aug. 30, 1904 1,870,105 Dugger Aug. 2, 1932 

